Letters to Desna
by Wind's Gale
Summary: Sequel to "A Date with Desna" Asami decides to try long-distant dating with Desna and the two start writing letters to one another. Things don't exactly go the way they want. Takes place after Book 4.


"I don't know. It seems kind of silly."

"Everyone writes letters. I've been told it helps strengthens relationships and establishes a more solid bond between two individuals."

"But why write letters when we can just talk on the phone like we're doing now?"

"Does it not appeal to you romantically?"

Asami sat at her desk in her office with a phone piece to her ear as she spoke to Desna. He had been discussing writing letters to each other as oppose to talking on the phone. It seemed silly to her although she had to admit, it did have a certain romantic appeal to her. The thought of being able to re-read and re-live his words swooned her. She could feel like a little girl again, saving her letters in a special box and reading them when she felt lonely.

"I suppose it does have a certain…charm about it." She finally said. "Alright. Let's do it."

That night she wrote her first letter. She felt like a kid with a crush while she wrote it. She even went to bed smiling, something she hadn't done in a long time.

_Dear Desna, _

_I'm not exactly sure what to write. I'm not one to write or anything. You're the first guy I've ever written something so personal to. I suppose you could call this a love letter? I'm not sure if we're at that level where we can call anything "love" yet. Perhaps we could just call it a "crush letter"? Well, that seems a little weird, but I guess nothing in our relationship is quite normal. I still remember our first date. I have to be honest. I dreaded the thought of going on a date with you. I didn't know that much about you, other than the little bit Korra has told me. I was afraid you'd be too much like Eska and…I might end up in an abusive relationship like Bolin, scared out of my mind and no one to help me. But now…_

_Sometimes I lay awake fantasizing about our next date. I feel awkward at times thinking about it, but it always makes me smile. You always make me smile. I find myself counting down the days when I can see you again. I think a lot about our last date, too. I know you're not really affectionate, but I enjoyed being held. It's been a while since I actually felt safe. Thank you for that. I hope to hear from you soon. _

_-Asami_

* * *

"What's in the envelope?" Mako asked as he and Asami walked down the streets of Republic City early in the morning. Both were on their way to work; Asami was going to a Future Industries warehouse and Mako was going to the police station. Normally Asami drove but she felt like today was a beautiful day for a walk.

"Oh, Desna and I decided to write letters to each other." She said with a slight blush.

"Wow. That's romantic. You two are starting to get serious, aren't you?"

"I guess we are. You know, I thought Korra would be weirded out by the whole thing but she's been really supportive."

"Bolin's still creeped out by it."

"That's not saying much. He's creeped out by slugs and trees that don't have any marks on them."

"Slugs _are _creepy."

* * *

After she mailed the letter, she waited a week in anticipation to hear back from him. She was tempted to call him but he insisted they limit their phone time. She was reluctant, but agreed anyway. The day she received a letter from him was one of the happiest days. She was grinning the entire day.

_Asami-_

_I read a book where a couple enjoyed a quiet night on a blanket, in the park, underneath the stars. Perhaps a similar experience will get us closer to a "love level" as you have described. The couple did not talk but I suspect it will be acceptable for us to enjoy each other's company in silence or to express our feelings and thoughts to one another. We should try such a thing next time we are together. I have grown rather fond of you and await our next meeting. Eska and I are scheduled to visit Republic City late next month. She will handle all the business. _

_-Desna_

She wrote another letter as soon as she got home. Butterflies were dancing in her stomach. She didn't think writing letters would be so thrilling but she found herself pouring her emotions into them, saying things she normally wouldn't say out loud, things she didn't even realize she was feeling. Over the course of the next few weeks, they communicated only by letters. It seemed so innocent, but neither suspected it could cause so much trouble and stress.

* * *

"Hey, Asami. I have a letter for you."

Asami looked up from her desk to see Mako standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey. Why do you have my letter?"

Mako walked further into the room and sat down in a chair sitting in front of Asami's desk. "I don't know. The mail carrier gave it to the police station for some reason and said it was for you. I figured it was from Desna so I decided to drop it off as soon as possible."

She quickly took the letter from him, although she tried not to look too eager. As soon as it was open, her eyes scanned over the paper. The smile lingering on her face slowly dropped and a look of confusion spread on her face. "What is this?"

_A-_

_I don't know if we can keep this up. There's someone's else. Our time together was great but don't you think it's time to move on? I love you but she makes me so happy and you know we can't actually be together. I'm sorry._

_-D_

Tears were stinging her eyes. "I don't understand." She whispered.

"Is something wrong?" Mako immediately stood up as soon as he noticed her eyes watering.

"No. I-, can you give me a minute?"

"Of course."

As soon as he left the room, she reached for her phone and began dialing. The phone rung for half a minute before anyone picked up the phone. It sounded like a woman but it wasn't Eska.

"I need to speak to Chief Desna right away." She said with urgency in her voice.

"I'm sorry, but he's busy right now. Who is this?"

"This is Asami." She should introduce herself as his girlfriend? Were they really girlfriend and boyfriend? She decided not to add anything to it.

"Hm, he never mentioned an Asami. I'll be sure to let him know you called."

"Thank you. Tell him it's important." She hung up the phone and stared at the letter again. There was someone else? Why write it instead of calling her? Suddenly, she didn't feel like finishing her blueprints.

* * *

"Chief Desna, you have a letter."

Desna and Eska were sitting on their thrones with a usual bored look on their face. Desna's new assistant, Buwan, stood in front of Desna. She had obvious Fire Nation roots, despite her unusual name. She was as professional as could be with the appropriate attire that screamed more Republic City than Water Tribe.

Desna held out his hand to receive the letter. What he read made his brow wrinkle from confusion.

_D-_

_I don't know how to tell you this. I thought about calling you but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I'm pregnant. I didn't mean to, but I did it. I'm sorry. This isn't going to work out._

"What has caused you to expression such emotion, brother?" He heard his sister ask.

"We're going to Republic City." Was all he said.

"You have a boat booked to Republic City for next week." Buwan said.

"We're going tomorrow."

"But sir, I'd have to reschedule the entire-"

"Tomorrow." He said in an irritated voice. Buwan nodded and scurried off to make sure everything was ready for the next day.

* * *

"Are you sure it'll work?"

"Of course it'll work! I invented it, didn't I?"

Asami was in one of her newly built warehouses. It was underground so the only light was from the wall lamps. This is where she tested some of her more dangerous inventions. The reinforced walls assured that any accident could be easily contained within the walls. She was busy adjusting what looked to be a metal headband on a 12 year old girl who had a tattoo of an eye on her forehead. The headband had a hole large enough so the tattoo could be seen through it. With her were half a dozen Earthbending agents, Varrick, and Zhu Li.

"It's not like I actually came up with the concept and blueprints or anything." Asami mumbled under her breath.

"And you're sure it'll keep her explosions under control?" One of the agents asked.

"My fellow Earthbender, we've put a lot of research and time into this. We actually got the idea from magnets." Varrick said.

"Magnets?"

"Magnets! Some magnets use what we call electromagnetism to make certain metals attracted to them. Now we noticed magnets can also affect the behavior of certain animals, which brought up the question of if it could affect humans as well."

"Can it?"

Varrick grinned as he stared at the man. "We'll find out today!"

"But you said it'd work!" One of the agents chimed.

"Did I?" Varrick wiggled his eyebrows.

"Alright. It's in place." Asami gently grabbed the chin of the young girl who was staring at the ground, forcing her to look at her. "Hey, it'll be alright. I promise." The young girl smiled.

"Okay, Chu Ju, you see those dummies way over there on the other side of the warehouse? I want you to use your combustion on them. Pretend they're bad guys." Varrick said while placing his hands on the girl's shoulders.

"But what if I end up hurting someone." Chu Ju said in a quiet voice.

"That won't happen. Now, have at it!"

Everyone took a step back and waited for an explosion, but it never came. Chu Ju clutched her head, took a deep breath and tried to send out a spark one last time.

"I thought that thing was suppose to control her explosions, not stop them." One agent said.

"That's not suppose to happen." Asami said quietly.

"My head hurts." Chu Ju cried.

Varrick went to pull the headband off the young girl but found it stuck and vibrating. "Uh oh. It's not suppose to vibrate. I'm not an engineer, well actually I am, that's why I'm telling you to take cover!"

"What?!"

She couldn't remember much of what happened next. All she knew was there was an explosion, yelling, and the sound of fire. She found herself laying on her side 10 feet away from where she was originally standing. Part of the ceiling had crumbled on top of them and was now blazing with fire. Her attempt to get up was quickly hampered by a burning pain in her arm. A quick look showed her that her entire forearm was exposed and badly burned.

Chu Ju grabbed her head and screamed. Asami watched in horror as another explosion came from the young girl. Then another. And another. Each one getting bigger than the last one. The feeling of dread set inside her. She frantically looked around, looking for a way out as her heart began to pump rapidly. Luckily for her, the door was right behind her. Unfortunately, as soon as she attempted to stand up again, another explosion caused a chunk of the ceiling to fall on top of her and become engulfed in flames.

She didn't know where everyone was. There was smoke everywhere. She could hear people talking and moving but couldn't make out what was going on. She tried to throw the debris off her back but with her injured arm and newly aching body, it was impossible. Panic was rising in her body with her chest heaving from the fear she was feeling.

Water was suddenly splashed on top of her. She gasped before she was suddenly yanked out from debris and held close by a strange person.

"Desna?" She whispered.

While Eska skillfully pulled water out of the pipes in the walls to quench the flames, Desna was staring at Asami's arm. She didn't notice, she was too busy staring at him as if studying his face would tell her why he was there.

"You're hurt." He said not in his usual monotone voice.

She looked down at her arm. "Oh, yeah. I uh… What are you doing here?"

He said nothing as he pulled out some letters from his sleeve and handed them to her.

"What's this?" She asked as she read the first letter. Her entire face had turned red by the time she finished. "I hope you don't think I wrote this. I'm not pregnant!"

"I know you didn't."

"You do? So I guess that means..the letter I got…"

"Wasn't from me. It seems we have an incompetent mail system mixing up our letters."

"I tried to call you before and you didn't get back to me."

"My new assistant didn't tell me I received any phone calls until yesterday. I've since fired her and had her thrown in the dungeon."

Asami grinned, despite the recent events. "So does this mean we can continue dating?"

Before he could respond, Varrick approached the couple and wrapped his dirty arms around both of them, much to Desna's irritation. "Man, how could that have went so wrong?"

"I don't know. The iron seemed stable when I tested it on-" Asami began to ramble.

"Iron? You used iron? No, no, no! I said use _cobalt_! The Varri-gel I use makes the iron too unstable when there's added heat."

"What? No, you said iron. Are you certain you told me cobalt?"

"Of course I am. I even remember the day. Zhu Li brewed for me a hot cup of jasmine tea with a lemon slice, just how I like it. Then she scrubbed my foot calluses and set up a meeting with you. You showed me the blueprints and I noticed you were still using iron as your base metal and told you to change it to cobalt."

"Oh no, I didn't even finish the blueprint. How could I forget? This is all my fault then. I'm sorry."

"Oh come on, we're all safe and sound now. The Earthbenders got the headband off and there was no major damage. I'll just be sure never to assign you metal duty when you receive the wrong letter in the mail again."

"My warehouse was damaged and I have third degree burns."

"See? No major damage!"

Asami smacked her forward. "Wait, you knew Desna and I were receiving the wrong letters?"

"Of course I did. I've been doing research on the postal service. Gotta do your research on the competition because guess who's opening up his own postal company?"

She sighed. She just wanted him to go away so she and Desna could talk. "You?"

"Yes. Me!" He removed his arms from their shoulders. "I'm calling it Varrimail. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? It'll be a much smoother system. No more of that inept government system mixing up letters. Faster delivery and to the correct person. I no longer only ship cargo, I ship everything!"

"Shouldn't you be checking on your wife?" Desna finally said.

"Yes, I suppose looking after her is my husbandly duty." He mumbled as he rubbed his chin. Before he walked away, he pointed to Asami's arm. "You should really get that looked at."

Before she could say anything, Desna grabbed her good arm and started leading her out of the warehouse.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"I'm taking you to a doctor and then we're going to the park. I have some letters I want you to read."

She smiled.


End file.
